Peace Before Justice, Congo Minister Tells ICC

KINSHASA (AFP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday justified a refusal to hand over a former rebel chief for trial by a world court on the grounds that domestic peace was best served by his remaining free.

The country’s justice minister, Emmanuel-Janvier Luzolo, told a press conference that “in the judicial practice of any state, there are moments when the demands of peace override the traditional needs of justice.”

The International Criminal Court, based The Hague, wants to try Bosco Ntaganda for alleged war crimes in the country’s northeastern Ituri region, particularly enlisting child soldiers in 2002-2003.

But Ntaganda, the head of general staff of the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), on January 16 went over to Kinshasa’s side in a conflict that has wracked the eastern region for years.